Accra might live and breathe in neighborhoods like Adabraka and Osu, but its monumental heart is at Black Star Gate. We were standing in the shadow of this gate when, just meters away, an accident occurred that will play a starring role in our nightmares for years to come.
Black Star Gate is also known as Independence Gate, a nonchalant naming system mirrored by Black Star Square / Independence Square immediately to its south. To the north of the gate is the massive Accra Sports Stadium, which opened in 1952 and seats 40,000. In 2001, this stadium was the scene of Africa's worst-ever sporting disaster, when police fired tear gas into the stands during a match between Accra's Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko. 142 people would die in the ensuing stampede.
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